After returning to the bedroom, I started looking for a place to put the jewelry box.

“Hmm, I guess I’ll put it in there for now.”

After looking around for a while, my eyes fell on the bottom drawer of the dressing table.

It was a place that the maids rarely touched.

I went to the dressing table, knelt down, and pulled out the bottom drawer completely.

There was a small hollow space at the back of the drawer, where I put the jewelry box and then closed the drawer back in place.

The back space in the bottom drawer of the dressing table was also where I kept the magic potion bottle I had received from the ‘Proud Night’ clinic.

I got up again and paced around the bedroom for a while, inwardly hurling all sorts of curses at Prince Tessler.

I wanted to throw away the pink diamond ring he had given me right away, but I couldn’t touch it because it was on Bonisse’s pinky finger.

What on earth did Bonisse have to do with this that they had to hurt her?

“Vicious bastard, cruel son of a…”

I’ll definitely pay him back somehow.

I vowed to myself several times.

As anger took over me, my temperature suddenly soared.

It felt like my body was boiling in a heated pot.

“I can’t breathe. It’s suffocating…”

I pounded my chest with my fist, but it was no use.

If I didn’t swing a sword or something, I felt like my body would explode like this.

Knock knock knock-.

Just then, there was a knock and Sharon came in.

“What’s the matter?”

“There’s a message from the main palace.”

“What message?”

I tensed up for a moment.

Was Rinel asking to have dinner together?

For a moment, the scene of Prince Tessler’s sword striking Bonisse’s pinky finger flashed through my mind.

Even though I tried not to think about it, that horrific scene had been popping up at every opportunity since earlier.

Bonisse’s clear and gentle voice turned into a scream that struck my ears.

I quickly covered my ears with both hands.

“Are you alright, Your Majesty the Empress? Are you feeling unwell?”

Sharon approached, startled.

“I’m fine. Go on.”

“Yes… His Majesty’s meeting is expected to continue late into the night.”

“Oh, that’s a relief.”

When I muttered to myself as if in relief without realizing it, Sharon asked with an even more worried expression.

“Your Majesty the Empress, is there something…”

“No, nothing. So His Majesty can’t come to the Empress’s palace today, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Alright, you can go now. I need to rest a bit.”

“Um… Your Majesty the Empress.”

“What? Oh, do you have more to say?”

I turned back to Sharon as I was walking towards the bed.

She nodded and quickly replied in a bright voice.

“Yes! His Majesty said that since the meeting will likely run late, he wondered if Your Majesty the Empress might come to the main palace bedroom!”

“Ah…”

What should I do?

My head started to hurt.

“It seems His Majesty wants to see Your Majesty the Empress’s face by dropping by the main palace bedroom in between meetings!”

I couldn’t respond to Sharon’s excited voice.

If it had been before Martins Grand Duke’s visit, I would have been happy too.

But now things were different.

There were things I needed to be careful about in everything.

The more attention I received from Rinel, the more dangerous it could become for Bonisse’s safety, as well as his.

“Sharon, you’ll have to go to the main palace yourself.”

I composed myself and turned to her again.

“Yes, just tell me what to say!”

“Tell them that I’m not feeling well… so I’ll have to rest early in the Empress’s palace today.”

As I imagined his disappointed expression upon hearing this, I felt my heart drying up.

“Your Majesty the Empress, shall I call for the court physician?”

“No, that’s not necessary. I’ll feel better after some rest.”

I smiled and waved my hand, but Sharon’s worried expression didn’t ease.

“It’s just a headache. Talking with the concubines earlier has made my head spin.”

Unable to come up with a better excuse, I had to blame it on the concubines.

Only then did she nod and give me an understanding look.

“Then I’ll go to the main palace and relay that message. Is there anything else you need?”

Sharon asked, checking my mood before leaving the bedroom.

“No. Oh, Sharon?”

I called her as she was turning to leave and we went out to the terrace together.

“Do you know where the training grounds are?”

“The training grounds…?”

Sharon asked me back, as if puzzled.

“Yes, I’m just curious. You said before it was close to the Empress’s palace, right? That’s why I’m asking.”

“Ah, yes… As I mentioned before, it’s not far from here. It’s around there.”

Sharon pointed to where the training grounds were located with one hand while resting the other on the terrace railing.

“Where?”

“If you follow the lakeside behind the Empress’s palace, you’ll come to a cypress forest. Can you see it there?”

“Yes.”

“If you follow that forest path for about 10 minutes, you’ll reach the training grounds.”

I mulled over Sharon’s explanation several times in my mind.

Fortunately, the path to the training grounds wasn’t complicated.

The question was whether I could get to the training grounds without being noticed by the palace people.

Luckily, since it was inside the cypress forest, it seemed possible if I could avoid the eyes of the palace people until I entered the forest path.

“I see. Thank you, Sharon.”

“It’s nothing. Then I’ll be off to the main palace.”

“Alright.”

I watched Sharon walk towards the bedroom door for a moment before turning to look at the cypress forest.

Even if I could get to the training grounds without being noticed by others, there was still another problem.

I couldn’t go in a dress, so what about the outfit?

I needed clothes that were comfortable for activity to visit the training grounds.

“Um, Your Majesty the Empress…”

Startled by Sharon’s voice, I turned to face her with my back to the railing.

“Yes? Haven’t you left yet?”

“Your Majesty’s riding clothes are in the first dress hanger section on the left as soon as you enter the dressing room.”

“…What?”

Sharon suddenly brought up riding clothes.

“And if you walk along that wall, you’ll come to a small door. That door leads to stairs going down to the first floor laundry room, which is usually locked.”

“…Sharon.”

“The key is kept in the middle drawer, the 4th one, of the drawer unit next to the door. It might be troublesome for Your Majesty to find, so I’ll tell Sollie and Teresa before I leave.”

Was it because I brought up the training grounds so abruptly?

She had noticed that I was trying to go to the training grounds secretly.

“When you go down to the first floor laundry room, there’s a back door that leads directly to the rear garden of the Empress’s palace.”

“Sharon, when did you realize I was trying to go to the training grounds?”

When I honestly admitted it,

“When you hit the back of Catherine Mama’s head in the greenhouse…! Ahem, since then.”

Sharon said, waving one hand in the air before lowering it with an ‘oops’ expression and lowering her voice.

“What?”

“I’ve been expecting you to ask about the training grounds at some point since then.”

“Ah… I see.”

“Your Majesty the Empress, may I bring up some tea good for headaches after I return from the main palace?”

“Sure. And thank you so much, Sharon.”

I took Sharon’s hand as I spoke, and she smiled brightly.

“See you later…”

“Yes, then I’ll take my time coming back.”

A few minutes after she left, the bedroom door opened again.

“Your Majesty the Empress.”

“We’ll escort you to the dressing room.”

Sollie and Teresa had already been informed by Sharon outside.

I nodded and followed them into the dressing room connected to the bedroom.

As Sharon had said, the riding clothes were hanging in the first section on the left as soon as we entered the dressing room.

Sollie helped me change into the riding clothes, while Teresa found the key by opening the drawer.

“Have a safe trip, Your Majesty the Empress.”

Sollie said as she hung the dress I had been wearing on a hanger.

“Yes.”

I smiled briefly.

Just the thought of going to the training grounds already made me feel like I could breathe easier.

“I’ll escort you to the laundry room. There might be other maids around.”

Teresa said as she turned the key in the lock.

“Alright, please do.”

When the door opened, a narrow spiral staircase was revealed below.

“Let’s go, Your Majesty the Empress. Be careful, the stairs are steep!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t roll down like Melanie.”

Teresa’s playful laughter echoed through the spiral staircase at my words as she went down ahead of me.

Fortunately, there were no other maids in sight in the laundry room.

According to Teresa, this was the Empress’s private laundry room, so other maids rarely came in unless there was something special to do.

When the back door of the laundry room was opened, there were clotheslines set up in front of it for drying laundry in the sun.

“Have a good trip, Your Majesty the Empress!”

Teresa said, showing me her clenched fists as if seeing off a knight after a departure ceremony.

“I won’t be long. And it’ll be darker when I return, so I’ll be less noticeable than now.”

I said, looking up at the setting sun.

“Yes! I’ll be waiting. But, is it okay if I don’t accompany you?”

“Hm?”

“Like a guard knight!”

“Who? You as my guard?”

I burst out laughing as I checked the riding clothes I was wearing.

“Well, what am I thinking. I’d probably be startled just seeing a squirrel in the forest, hehe. Please be careful!”

“See you later.”

I waved to Teresa and then sprinted straight towards the cypress forest.

It was freedom I hadn’t felt in a long time.

It felt like shackles that had been on my legs were suddenly broken.

I ran down the forest path without stopping, feeling like my lungs would burst.

My breath was short, but my chest, which had felt so stuffy, felt refreshingly clear.

The forest was incredibly refreshing. The scent of cypress filled my lungs deeply.

“There it is.”

Just before another path appeared, I could see the training grounds building in the distance.

[This is the timeline separator]

Main Palace Conference Hall.

The meeting to decide whether to approve or oppose the holding of the Continental Hunting Competition went on endlessly.

If the hunting competition were to be held this time, it would be the turn of the Raphion Empire in the Northern Continent to be the starting point of the competition, so a decision had to be made even more carefully.

Rinel, who had been examining the opinion papers from each country, glanced at the ministers groaning here and there in the conference hall before closing the documents.

“Let’s take a 10-minute break and then continue the meeting.”

As Rinel stood up from his chair, the ministers followed suit.

Everyone stretched their bodies, stiff from the long meeting.

“Um… Your Majesty.”

Duke Calios, the father of the First Concubine Catherine and the minister with the most private soldiers, approached him as he was about to leave the conference room.

“What is it, Duke Calios?”

“I’ve heard that you haven’t visited the concubines’ quarters since the ceremony.”

“And?”

“Shouldn’t you distribute your affection evenly to maintain peace in the imperial family?”

“Duke Calios, have you been in my embrace?”

“…Pardon?”

“How do you know if my embrace is wide or narrow? Is it also your personal experience that peace will come if affection is distributed evenly?”

“That, that’s not what I meant…”

“Not what you meant? If not, then just keep quiet.”

Rinel continued speaking while brushing off Duke Calios’s shoulder with an incredibly cold gaze.

“Who I embrace, whether I distribute affection evenly or concentrate it, is for me to decide.”

“But the concubines are also clearly Your Majesty’s women, so if you don’t visit them…”

“My women… Right, they are my women since we had the ceremony. So, Duke Calios, how about you stop concerning yourself with other men’s women?”

“Your Majesty! If you only favor the Empress, it could lead to discord in the future… Ugh!”

Shing-.

Rinel drew the sword from the scabbard of his secretary Raphael, who was standing beside him.

He put the blue blade to Duke Calios’s neck.

“The Empress is my wife. The word ‘favor’ doesn’t suit the Empress. Don’t you agree?”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty…”

“That’s right. The Empress receiving my love is not favoritism, it’s natural, not something to be shared with concubines.”

Duke Calios looked up at the Emperor’s cold face.

It seemed like the Emperor might cut his throat right then and there.

“Do you understand, Duke Calios?”

“For-Forgive me. My thoughts were short-sighted.”

Cold sweat beaded on Duke Calios’s forehead.

“Please calm down, Your Majesty. This is the conference hall…”

Secretary Raphael whispered, grabbing Rinel’s arm holding the sword.

The other ministers also murmured here and there with tense expressions.

When Rinel’s gaze turned to the ministers, they all closed their mouths and lowered their heads.

He sheathed the sword he had pointed at Duke Calios’s neck back into Raphael’s scabbard and left the conference hall, heading to his office.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Your Majesty, you went too far earlier. There was no need to do that with so many eyes watching…”

“End the meeting within an hour.”

Rinel spoke indifferently, ignoring Raphael’s nagging words.

“But you were supposed to continue the meeting until midnight today…”

“We’ll resume the meeting tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, I’ll relay that message.”

Raphael couldn’t argue further with Rinel’s words.

Knock knock knock-.

“Your Majesty.”

The head chamberlain Stian entered the office.

“What is it?”

Stian relayed the message that had come from the Empress’s palace.

“Her Majesty the Empress is not feeling well, so she will retire early in the Empress’s palace today.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Then I’ll go, of course.”

Rinel said concisely.

“…Pardon?”

Stian exchanged glances with Raphael beside him, bewildered.

“I’ve already decided to end today’s meeting within an hour, so I’ll go to the Empress’s palace as soon as the meeting is over.”

“But if Your Majesty goes, Her Majesty the Empress won’t be able to rest comfortably…”

Raphael advised cautiously, but,

“I need to see for myself what’s wrong and how.”

He was adamant.

“Your Majesty, the meeting will likely run long tomorrow as well, so perhaps you should rest well in the main palace tonight…”

Stian also tried to dissuade him, but,

“Seeing the Empress is my rest.”

It was useless.

“…”

At this, Raphael and Stian gave up trying to persuade him.

“Wait, is she very unwell? I should just end the meeting now and go to the Empress’s palace.”

“Your Majesty, please reconsider!”

“Please let Her Majesty the Empress rest as well!”

The two exclaimed simultaneously.

“Fine. Then in 30 minutes.”

Rinel said firmly, showing his pocket watch to the two men.

With an expression that brooked no further delay.

‘Oh no!’

Sharon, who had been secretly eavesdropping outside the office, gasped and quickly pressed her lips shut.

‘His Majesty is coming to the Empress’s palace in 30 minutes?’

Zelda would still be at the training grounds at this time.

‘This is bad! I need to hurry and let her know!’

Sharon lifted the skirts of her dress and started running quickly towards the Empress’s palace.